Book Review (9)

Financial doldrumsAnirban BasuThe book Sense, Sensex and Sentiments written by M R Venkatesh, an experienced chartered accountant, describes the ways corruption is practiced in India with illicit outflow of domestic capital.As per John Christensen, an authority on secrecy jurisdictions, who has written the foreword of the book, India ranks fifth in the world, in terms of the scale of its illicit outflows, and between USD 22-27 billion of domestic capital flows illegally out of India every year. With the increase in corruption levels in the country in the last few years, scams hitting the headlines every day, and the government…

Peeping into secrecy havensThe book focuses on the problems of tax evasion and the flight of capital from India via hawala routes, writes Sandhya JainAs a successful chartered accountant with an evolved sense of responsibility regarding the crisis engendered in the world by the growing number of fiscal scandals that are sending nations, societies and people into crisis, MR Venkatesh has issued a clarion call to Indian society with his seminal Sense, Sensex and Sentiments. And not a day too soon. As one scam after another roils our politico-economic life, and scams like 2G spectrum in turn involve bank loan…

Of tax havens and P-notes by AARTI KRISHNAN It is certainly difficult to spin a racy tome out of such dry subjects as participatory notes, foreign exchange management and the convoluted workings of international tax treaties. That's probably why Chartered Accountant M.R Venkatesh, when penning this book christened it "Sense, Sensex and Sentiments", tagging on the provocative subtitle - "The Failure of India's Financial Sentinels". Despite its title, this is not a book about the behavioural quirks of the Indian stock market. Nor does it reveal secrets that indict Indian regulators. Instead, much of this book is devoted to chronicling…

Sense, Sensex and Sentiments: new book on Indian corruption A book on corruption in India is timely: the national media is rife with stories of fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and all sorts of whatnot. Released this month, Sense, Sensex and Sentiments: The Story of the Failure of India's Financial Sentinels is penned by well-known and respected Chennai-based chartered accountant M.R. Venkatesh. At root it is a lament for lost dreams, but it is also a hard headed examination of global and national systemic failures and the political barriers to progress. As this reviewer notes: "Venkatesh has clinically analysed India's problems…